Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 30, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- In
a statement released on Wednesday, the bishops of Mexico called on
presidential candidates to offer “concrete plans for the short, medium
and long term” for dealing with the problem of immigration, rather than
simply pointing out the problem.

In their statement the bishops argue that “to try to stop immigration
with different types of ‘barriers’ is impossible” and that “dialogue
and thorough solutions,” taking into account the “specific contribution
that immigration can offer for world peace,” are what is truly needed.

“The United States,” the bishops continued, “has recognized in practice
that it depends on the Mexican worker to keep the economy
healthy. Therefore, it should make a special efforts to establish
the legal means for Mexican workers there to find jobs that provide an
appropriate wage and just employment benefits and protections, in order
to live with dignity.”

“Regulating the flow of immigrants between countries is a process,” the
bishops added. “We cannot lose site of our responsibility to
carry out structural reforms so that Mexicans can experience in our
country the basic conditions necessary to live with dignity in whatever
profession they choose,” they said.

The statement, which was signed by the president of the Bishops’
Conference of Mexico, Bishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago, and
Conference secretary, Bishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, calls for cooperation
by everyone to “seek out solutions together,” so that “the rights of
our brothers and sisters who are seeking a better life are recognized”
and “justice is served.”